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Pavel Burian

12 hrs ago Politics

Babis wants to boost auto industry with EU funds

Babis wants to boost auto industry with EU funds - Czech Points

Czechia should use the money from the European Reconstruction Fund mainly to support the automotive industry, investments in healthcare, and digitization. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš told reporters today after returning from the EU summit.

“We need to help our automotive industry, which has big problems. We need to restructure and invest significantly in healthcare. We need to solve digitization. We need to support the construction industry in particular. We need to invest, and we need to invest in the crisis,” Babiš said. According to him, the basis for the use of money should be the National Investment Plan, which by 2050 envisages about 20,000 projects for about eight trillion crowns.

Havlíček should work with other ministers to draw up a plan for the European Commission. Babiš did not rule out working with the opposition. He noted that the money would be used primarily by the cabinet, which will emerge from next year’s elections.

Based on the summit agreement, Czechia will receive 27 billion euros from 2021 to 2027. It will draw 8.7 billion in subsidies from the renewal fund. It will be able to borrow another 15.4 billion euros under the fund’s advantageous conditions. Babiš said that Czechia would consider a loan if the conditions are more favorable than those under which the country itself borrows on the financial markets.

Babiš also said that he does not mind introducing a new direct source of the European budget in the form of a fee for non-recycled plastics.

Babiš said he did not raise objections to the original proposal to combine the drawing of money from the reconstruction fund with the observance of the rule of law. Poland and Hungary strongly protested against the plan. European leaders have finally agreed on a compromise version of the provision, which contains a condition in some form.